THE FIVE-HUNDRED-METER APERTURE SPHERICAL RADIO TELESCOPE (FAST) PROJECT

作者：RENDONG NAN, DI LI, CHENGJIN JIN, QIMING WANG, LICHUN ZHU, WENBAI ZHU, HAIYAN ZHANG, YOULING YUE, LEI QIAN · 发表于：International Journal of Modern Physics D · 年份：2011 · DOI：10.1142/s0218271811019335 · 被引用次数：878 · 研究领域：Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology、Antenna Design and Optimization、Superconducting and THz Device Technology

Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is a Chinese mega-science project to build the largest single dish radio telescope in the world. Its innovative engineering concept and design pave a new road to realize a huge single dish in the most effective way. FAST also represents Chinese contribution in the international efforts to build the square kilometer array (SKA). Being the most sensitive single dish radio telescope, FAST will enable astronomers to jump-start many science goals, such as surveying the neutral hydrogen in the Milky Way and other galaxies, detecting faint pulsars, looking for the first shining stars, hearing the possible signals from other civilizations, etc. The idea of sitting a large spherical dish in a karst depression is rooted in Arecibo telescope. FAST is an Arecibo-type antenna with three outstanding aspects: the karst depression used as the site, which is large to host the 500-meter telescope and deep to allow a zenith angle of 40 degrees; the active main reflector correcting for spherical aberration on the ground to achieve a full polarization and a wide band without involving complex feed systems; and the light-weight feed cabin driven by cables and servomechanism plus a parallel robot as a secondary adjustable system to move with high precision. The feasibility studies for FAST have been carried out for 14 years, supported by Chinese and world astronomical communities. Funding for FAST has been approved by the National Develop...